Evonik Invests in Methionine Plant in Singapore
SINGAPORE - Evonik has announced a major investment in Singapore: a new methionine production complex for roughly €500 million with start-up scheduled for 2014.With the largest of its chemical investments to date, Evonik plans to strengthen its core business with essential amino acids for animal nutrition. The Group will invest roughly €500,000 in Singapore for the construction of a methionine complex with an annual capacity of 150,000 metric tons. In the completely backward-integrated complex on Jurong Island, Evonik will not only produce the amino acid methionine, which is in high demand for animal feed, but also all the strategically important raw materials required for the production process. The new plant is scheduled to begin operating in the second half of 2014 and will employ several hundred people. The main engineering and raw material contracts have already been awarded and preliminary work has already commenced.
The new construction and the expansion of the four existing methionine production plants will raise Evonik's total annual capacity for this amino acid to 580,000 metric tons beginning in 2014 – an increase of more than 60 per cent in just five years (2010: 360,000 metric tons).
Klaus Engel, CEO of Evonik Industries, said: "Methionine is one of our core businesses, which we're now strengthening considerably in the Asian growth market by making this major investment. This also should bring us closer to our customers in Asia and makes us a solid, reliable, long-term partner." Evonik is already the market leader for methionine.
Reiner Beste, head of the Health & Nutrition Business Unit, added: "By taking this step in Singapore, we'll enjoy a presence in all world regions, as is achievable with modern and highly efficient production facilities. We've consistently expanded our existing facilities in North America and Europe over the years to meet the increasing demand of our customers and to secure our leading position among the competition."
Evonik markets DL-methionine, which is an indispensable amino acid for healthy and sustainable animal nutrition, as MetAMINO®. The balanced use of MetAMINO is playing an increasingly crucial role in advanced nutrition concepts for poultry, pigs, and fish. Global meat consumption will keep rising in the long run as more and more people live in prosperity, so a more efficient supply of nutrients in animal feed is needed for both ecological and economic reasons.
Evonik is the only company worldwide to produce and market all four essential amino acids for modern animal nutrition: MetAMINO (DL-methionine), Biolys® (L-lysine), ThreAMINO® (L-threonine), and TrypAMINO® (L-tryptophan). The company supplies its innovative products and services in more than 100 countries and is currently doubling its Biolys production capacity at its US site in Blair, Nebraska.